Feedback from several Sunnyvale residents was divided during the public hearing for the creation of a new charter school in the city.

In anticipation of a large crowd, the Sunnyvale School District board of education meeting on Oct. 17 was moved from the district office to Bishop Elementary School’s auditorium.

The board waived the traditional cap of 20 speakers during the public hearing to allow for more feedback on the topic. More than 150 attended, and more than 40 people spoke about Spark Charter School. During the two-hour public hearing, nearly half spoke in favor of the charter.

The district formally accepted the petition to create the school on Oct. 1.

Spark Charter School, which would be a K-8, hopes to open in fall 2014 and aims to provide its students with project-based learning and individualized and small-group instruction, as well as social-emotional learning.

While Spark would be the first Sunnyvale School District charter, there is one existing county charter school in Sunnyvale as well as one magnet program. Summit Public School: Denali is a grade 6-12 charter school located on Mercury Drive in Sunnyvale that just opened this year. Fairwood Explorer is a K-5 district magnet school located on the Fairwood Elementary School campus on Fairwood Avenue.

Charter schools may be operated by a particular group, a university or a for-profit corporation. Charter schools also hire their own teachers and staff, and not all charter school teachers are required to be certified.

Magnet schools are specialized schools created and run by the district in which they reside. Magnet schools must adhere to their district’s rules for hours of operation and attendance in brick-and-mortar locations. Their teachers and staff are hired by their district, and all teachers must be certified.

Four key Sunnyvale parents who were initially involved in the creation of the Explorer program at Fairwood had done a year’s worth of research before they approached the district four years ago. The group figured at that time that it probably would need a district charter, but instead was approached by the district to create Explorer as a magnet program, which they did.

But the group agrees a K-8 charter school is needed in the city.

“Spark’s mission is to create a school that gets children excited about learning and engages their curiosity,” Laura Stuchinsky, one of Spark’s founders, said during the meeting. “We want to foster the kind of deeper learning and skills that will help them to exceed in school and in life.”

Spark aims to do so, Stuchinsky explained, through a hands-on, inquiry-based approach to learning–learning by doing. The school will also focus on developing social/emotional skills in a K-8 environment and on family participation, to allow teachers to provide smaller group instruction. Parents are to volunteer for two hours each week in each child’s classroom.

“Our goal is 100 percent participation,” Stuchinsky said.

Wendi Smith, a 20-year veteran teacher in the Sunnyvale School District, disagreed that what Spark would be offering would be anything different than what exists in the district.

“According to the [National Education Association], a charter should be granted only if the proposed school tends to offer an educational experience that is qualitatively different than what is available in traditional public schools,” Smith said during the meeting. “Looking through the petition of the Spark charter, it appears that that does not exist here. The proposed curriculum and activities are no different than what is already available in our school district, and in fact, in many areas even fall short.”

Smith added that all teachers use Common Core Standards to build curriculum and guide instruction as well as project-based learning. She added that what Spark is proposing is not new.

The district will make its final decision on Nov. 21. There will be an opportunity for anyone who didn’t get to speak to share comments at the board’s Nov. 7 meeting at 7 p.m. at 819 W. Iowa Ave. in Sunnyvale. Comments can also be sent to the district at sesd.org.

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